I'm looking for a source for good quality silks. Let me explain. What I have now are two 6" (?) silks that I use for thumbtip vanishes. These are super thin and very poor quality AND they are very wrinkle-prone. Put one in a TT and when you remove it, it looks like it had been in there for a 100 years. Many many wrinkles. the more you stuff it into a TT, the more wrinkles it gets and holds. The wrinkles do not come out without ironing...and ironing is problematic in its own right.

I keep seeing DVDs with silks going into TTs and when removed they show very little worse for wear.

Is there such a thing as a good wrinlke-resistant silk? If so, is there a nmae for such silk quality or is there a source (including a magic dealer) who carries such silks?

Thanks for any info.

Mike

P.S. It just dawned on me. Perhaps what others are using is not a true silk but is actually a nylon "silks" or some form of polyester "silk". Any merit to such conjecture? Has anyone else tried such silk substitute(s) with any success?

Richard Hughes has excellent quality silks and great service. His website is http://www.hughesmagic.com

This is a very interesting post, becuase I remember the silks that used to come with the chameleon silks had very thin hems (which is desireable when you're stuffing 3 silks into a *** *ub* )and were of better quality than the ones I buy in the local magic shop!

Thanks for the lead Doug!

On Jeff McBride's Magic On Stage (vol. 2?) he talks about whether or not you should iron and he mentions that at some point the textured look is sort of cool. Just a thought.

Contact Bob Sanders (a regular here... I'm supprised that he hasn't chimed in yet!) at Bob@MagicBySander.com... He can point you to several good sources of his silk products.
Lynn Fox

Turk,

I suggest using a larger TT and I've switched to that recently. Also, if you get the wrinkles out before your event, you'll be good to go. The easiest way to get the wrinkles out is to wash them in a bit of gentle soap, rinse them, and press them up against a mirror.

When they fall off the mirror they will look brand new and pressed.

I also use diamond shaped silks as they look much larger and fit nicely in the large vernet tt. Also, don't keep the silk in the tt when not in use.

Lastly, buy several of the same color and rotate them in and out of service. That way they all stay looking about the same age and having more than one of the same color can provide you other possibilities. And have a few of a second color to do color changes.

Turk,

Washing the silks may go a long ways toward making them softer. Are these from India or China? Both will wrinkle but the China silk has no fillers to hold creases. You should be able to wash it out of India silks but often the dyes in India silk run.

Frank points out some other important points. Silk left flat will get flat and left wrinkled will stay wrinkled. If you saw how many spares most of us have with us on the road you would not believe it. One of the nice things about doing instructional DVDs in the studio is that they can cut and edit. You can bet that there are plenty of fresh silks there.

The two main things that ruin silks are stains and punctures. You can reduce the punctures by trying to avoid pushing (poking) the solid areas of the silk with penetrating objects and using the pad of your fingers and thumb instead of the ends. Think of a thumb tack. You can push against either side but one will puncture and the other will not. It is perfectly alright to scoop the silk into the fist rather than poke it in. It is also more visual.

Dealers seldom carry 6" silks. There is a trick in which a 6" red, yellow and blue silk are vanished to give a 9" rainbow silk. Try

http://www.silkmagic.biz

Rick (Ricker on The Café) should have 6" China silks and that trick. However, I would suggest that you look at his Diamond Cuts instead. Both the 9" and the 12" should fit most TTs. Most people use them because they take less space than a square silk that size and look even larger. (The 9" will fit where a 6" will but look like a 12" square silk.) There should be no problem getting a 9" square silk into a TT. It certainly looks better than a 6" one.

For you there is a special benefit. The Diamond Cut has more edge. Thus, punctures are more difficult. Since you hold them diagonally, they don't look as wrinkled either. (I don't recommend holding any of them up as a square.)

Don't give up! When it works, it works! Keep at it.

Bob Sanders
Magic By Sander

Thanks, guys...particularly Frank and Bob. Very good advice from all. It is much appreciated. Frank's suggestion of attaching the silk to a mirror (to drywrinkle-free)is an interesting suggestion.

And thanks Doug for the site reference to Richard Hughes.

One last thing. Is there one type of silk that is better than others? I think that Bob was implying that silk from China is better quality than silk from India. True? Is there an American "brand" that has high quality silks? What I do NOT want to do is to buy silks that are of the lowest quality and which are sold by dealers who do not distinguish a high quality silk from a mass produced low quality manufacturer or distributor.

Thanks again for all the tip on keeping your silks from getting (or staying) wrinkled.

Mike

The largest supplier of silk is China. India is second and Japan is third. Some high quality stuff comes from Italy and France, but it's expensive.

Silk is measured by weight in either momme(mm) or grams. 8 momme, or 28 grams, is equal to one once of silk. The higher the momme, the bulkier and more expensive it is. Low momme silks compress more, but high momme silks have more resiliency.

Bob sells silks in 6mm and 8mm.


Best

Posted: May 23, 2006 1:44pm
Oh yeah, I've used the mirror trick for a long time. Just make sure the mirror, and the spot where the silk will fall, is clean!

And check out the "Smooth as Silk" forum. There's some good stuff on there.

How about Laflin Silks available at http://www.lockfamilymagic.com/public/index.php. I must admit that I have very limited knowledge when it comes to silks but I have a set from Mr. Laflin I bought from him at Magi-Fest and they seem really nice and he is always a pleasure to deal with.

Joe